Faith Evans
Faith Evans is an R&B singer. She is known as the widow of The Notorious B.I.G., who she married in 1994. Early life Born in 1973 to Helene Evans and Richard Swain, Faith was the child of two adults involved in the music industry. Her mother was an African-American professional singer while her Caucasian father was a musician, who left her before she was born. Evan's mother was a teenager at the time she was born and left her in the care of her cousin Johnnie Mae and Orvelt Kennedy. The couple raised more than 100 children in foster care and Faith came to know them as her grandparents. After Helene's career floundered years later, she tried to take her daughter back, but Faith had become used to living with her mother's cousin and brother-in-law and was afraid to leave what she was familiar to. Helene then relocated next door to her. Career Evans was signed to Sean Combs's Bad Boy Records in the early 1990s and was consulted by Combs to give background vocals for the second album of Mary J. Blige and the debut album of Usher. After this she began working on her debut album. First marriage, Faith and second child Evans married The Notorious B.I.G. in August 1994, days after meeting him. Wallace cheated on her with Lil' Kim and Charli Baltimore. Evans described in her memoir walking in on Wallace and Lil' Kim having sexual intercourse and attacking Kim. She had believed that in beating the women that Wallace cheated on her with, she would not have any competition in keeping him. Evan's self-titled album, Faith, was released on August 29, 1995. The album's singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home" made Faith a success. It eventually was certified platinum and according to the RIAA, sold 1.5 million copies. Rapper Tupac Shakur claimed to have slept with Evans in the diss track "Hit 'Em Up, released in June 1996. She had done background vocals for his song "Wonda Why They Call U Bytch". According to Evans, she was confronted over the alleged relationship with Shakur by Wallace. She denied being involved with him to her husband, who reportedly was angry when confronting her and even scared Evans to the point of her locking him out of the room she was in. Evans was pregnant at the time of "Hit 'Em Up" being released and both Wallace and Lil' Kim made references to the pregnancy being due to her relationship with Shakur and the pair joked in the song "Brooklyn's Finest" and the original version of "Big Momma Thang", which was revised after Shakur was murdered in September 1996. The month after his death, Evans gave birth to Christopher "CJ" Wallace, Jr., the second child of both and their only one together. Second marriage, current career Evans separated from Wallace shortly after the birth of their only child together and in early 1997, was introduced to Todd Russaw by her friend Missy Elliot. During the seperation from Wallace, she dated him. Following his death in March 1997, she became pregnant by Russaw. Evans gave birth to a second son and her third child, Joshua, on June 8, 1998 and married during the summer following the birth. Four months after giving birth to Joshua, in October 1998, she released her second album Keep the Faith. Evans nearly wrote and produced the entire album and felt discouraged about its progress at first. Evans worked with Sean Combs to produce the single "I'll Be Missing You", a tribute to Wallace. She sang the background vocals and won a Grammy in 1998 for it. In 2004, Evans and her husband were arrested on drug possession charges in Atlanta. Evans took a break from recording following the release of The First Lady in 2005 under Capitol Records to focus on her family. In 2009, she expressed interest in returning to music despite not having a record contract.Faith Evans Arrested On Suspicion Of Drunken Driving In January of that year, she voiced her disappointment with Lil' Kim's views on Notorious, the biopic about the life of her deceased husband. Jones accused Evans and Wallace's mother of being involved in what she called her negative portrayal. Evans responded by saying she was unaware of what Jones could expose her with, as she threatened to do and that she hoped Jones "found the closure she's looking for."Faith Evans Calls Lil' Kim's 'Notorious' Badmouthing 'Just Sad' On August 21, 2010, Evans was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and was taken into police custody at 10:40 p.m. Her car was impounded and she was released on bail the following morning. On November 30, 2010, Los Angeles City Attorney's Office spokesperson Frank Mateljan reported Evans had been sentenced to three years of probation the previous day after pleading no contest to one misdemeanor count of reckless driving.Faith Evans Sentenced To Three Years Probation Following DUI Arrest Evans was arrested in June 2012 on drugged driving charges as well.Faith Evans Arrested on Drunken Driving Charge Evans announced in 2013 that she had begun working on her sixth album. The album's lead single "I Deserve It" was released on August 25, 2014. References